us. >> keep it right here. there's much more ahead in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom." >> good to see you all. all right. we have a lot ahead. i guess you're passing the baton. >> yes, take it away. >> thanks so much. it is the 11:00 eastern hour. of "newsroom," and it begins right now. hello, everyone. an american held in north cree since october is now a free man. his surprise release coming overnight. we'll hear what he had to say after being freed, and follow his journey home to san francisco. and a big ice storm sweeping the country. hundreds of thousands without power, lots of flights grounded. we'll go live to dallas, one of the hardest-hit areas. and south africa prepares to bury nelson mandela. we'll talk with martin luther king iii. he'll tell us about his memories of meeting mandela and the shared legacy with his own father.

let's begin this hour with merrill newman, an elderly u.s. war veteran dragged off a plane and then locked up in north korea and is now free after six weeks held without any real explanation. he was suddenly released overnight by the communist country. north korea calling it a, quote, deportation. joining me now, cnn correspondent dan simon. he's at the airport in san francisco awaiting newman's arrival, about when he is expected to arrive, and this is some journey, isn't it? >> reporter: it really is, fredricka. and it's really important we remind our viewers of the nature of the situation. this is an 85-year-old with a heart condition who had been held in north korea since october, and no one knew what was going to happen to him until he was suddenly released by the government last night.

he is expected to land in about an hour from now. behind me is where he would clear -- come out through customs and greet his friends and family, unless the state department has special provisions for him, which wouldn't be terribly surprising given the situation. now, this is what mr. newman had to say before boarding his plane to the united states. >> i'm very glad to be on my way home. i appreciate the tolerance the dprk government has given to me to be on my way. >> how do you feel now? >> i feel good. i feel good. >> what will you have to do, first thing? >> first thing, what would you like to do? >> go home and see my wife. [ laughter ] >> reporter: newman had lived most of his life in palo alto, following his militarily service, he was a high schoolteacher and later became a successful silicon valley executive. he is said to have been a world traveler, was a scuba diver, had sailed around the world.

so even given his age, again, 85 years old, it wasn't terribly surprising to people who knew him that he would want to go back to north korea. fred? >> and, dan, is there a better explanation as to why he was quote/unquote deported now? >> reporter: it's a very good question. you know, he did give that, what can only be characterized as a stilted apology when he was in korea, and perhaps that's why the government decided to release him. their official statement is he was released for quote/unquote humanitarian purposes. fredricka? >> all right, dan simon, thank you so much. let us know when he gets through customs there. his release coincides with a visit by vice president joe biden who while touring asia visited south korea to lay a wreath for victims of the korean war. biden, however, insisted he had no direct role in newman's release. joining me now is foreign affairs reporter elise lavette. so what are they saying about why he was suddenly released? >> reporter: well, fred, you

heard dan saying, and, you know, as a result of this apology, and everyone kind of believes that the north koreans actually wrote this, themselves, where he admitted his veteran status and he worked in the korean war against the north koreans, they say he's admitted his crimes and he feels bad about it, and release him on humanitarian angels, and u.s. officials telling me there's been direct contact between the u.s. and north korea. over the last month, the north koreans called the obama administration yesterday, said they're releasing him. they did not explain why. and they can only -- really can never know with north korea, fred. very unpredictable. no one really wants to get in the head of the north koreans, but obviously, everybody very happy that mr. newman is on his way home. >> so lots of joy that newman has been released. however, there's another american being held, and the u.s. is calling for the release of kenneth bae. what will it take in order for

his demise to end up very similar to newman, and return home? >> reporter: again, really don't know, now that mr. newman is home, u.s. officials are telling me that all attention now is on kenneth bae. he's been in north korea for over a year, a missionary, and they say he was trying to subvert the government. his family issued a statement about the release of mr. newman. let me read a little bit of it for you. we're pleased to hear that mr. newman was released from the dprk, the name for north korea. we believe that our kenneth should come home soon. we have faith in o our government to bring kenneth home, and we dearly wish that we will have joy us holidays with kenneth. obviously, the bae family, they worried there would be diverting attention from getting kenneth bae out, so they're hoping this he can use this momentum to push for his release. >> all right, elise labott, keep us posted.

thank you so much. all right. let's talk weather. it may officially begin a couple of weeks from now, but you wouldn't know it from the weather hitting parts of the country right now. dallas-ft. worth area is among the hardest hit. an ice storm has knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. much of the state has been plunged into bone-chilling cold. the nasty weather also forced the cancellation of almost 700 flights of the dallas-ft. worth airport. and as the storm swept into arkansas, trees and power lines were also down. the governor has declared a statewide emergency and the police spent the night helping drivers stuck on ice and snow-covered roads. so the weather is now moving into the ohio valley, and roads are already icy and snow has already started to fall in some places, triggering a winter storm warning for central ohio. all right. so, dallas hard hit. let's go there now and see how ed lavandera is fairing and my goodness, a dusting of snow. that's an unusual sight for dallas. >> reporter: you know what, fred, i wished it was snow.

it looks pretty. but it is -- it is ice. >> wow! >> reporter: yeah. that is ice, and that's what makes this so, so scathingly painful in many ways, because it's even hard to just enjoy what looks like a pretty scene here. but this is just hardened ice, and it is causing problems from the airlines to on the roads. it has been a painful couple of days, and it will continue to be like this throughout most of the weekend. it's a nightmare of ice, sleet, and wicked cold. this winter storm has inspired the most haunting descriptions -- ice apocalypse and north texas ghosttowns left entombed in ice. trees encased by freezing rain are buckling under the shear weight of the ice, bringing down power lines and leaving more than 250,000 homes without power across dallas-ft. worth. crews are trying to salvage the lines that are still working, and the roadways are a hazardous mess.

>> go slowly, watch out for the person in front of you, and make sure that you are ready for the road conditions ahead of you. >> reporter: there have been hundreds of accidents across the region. cars slipping and sliding off roadways, three people in texas and oklahoma killed in weather-related crashes. on this lake north of dallas, the ice crushed this marina, collapsing the roof onto boats floating underneath. and the winter storm has cancelled about 2,000 flights across the region, including about 90% of the flights scheduled to depart dallas-ft. worth airport on friday. just two days ago, this same area was basking in the glow of 80-degree weather, but it all disappeared in a matter of hours after the sun went down. the polar express arctic blast swooping in, leaving behind layers of ice and crunching sounds of slush. [ crunching ] right about now, you probably wish you could escape the frigid temperatures by jumping into that "back to the future"

delorean, taking a trip back in time. we actually don't need to go back that far. just a few hours, like 3:52 on a wednesday afternoon here in downtown dallas, a beautiful day for a walk in the park, sunglasses on, not a cloud in the sky. well, ed lav dandera is here to tell you that once again, you will be okay in the future, i hope. most schools and businesses shut down on friday. the dallas marathon and holiday parade were also cancelled. the first time those events have been called off. but still quite a few ventured outside. better to slip and slide on a hillside than on the highway. it will take several days for temperatures to rebound, and for the ice to melt away. [ screams ] and, fredricka, sadly, we are still seeing the slipping and the sliding, the dangerous, treacherous conditions on the roadways. that continues today. and we've seen this in the most tragic of ways, along interstate 35, about 30 miles or so north

of downtown dallas in the city of lewisville, a suburb of the dallas area, a truck slid off the interstate 35 and into the lake -- into lake lewisville, which the interstate goes over. lewisville firefighters had to dive into the frigid waters to try to save the driver, but they were unable to do that. so that driver passed away after sliding off the interstate. and that interstate has really been causing some problems for a lot of drivers over the last 24 hours. so if you're in that area, be extremely careful. >> oh, my god, that is horrible. well, our hearts go out to his family. thanks so much, ed lavandera. so the conditions are very dangerous. and if not dangerous now, potentially dangerous. let's find out where the storm is headed next. jennifer grey, welcome. this is our first time talking to each other on the air. >> it is. >> welcome from sunny miami. well, so much for sunny skies. >> i know, right? >> yeah. >> temperatures around 82 and sunny. yeah, a little different. yeah, we are seeing the system pushing out in wave number two, just on its heels.

and this is going to impact mainly the northeast, mid-atlantic and the northeast going through the next 24 to 36 hours. i want to take you hour by hour. now, this is saturday 2:00 p.m., just in a couple of hours, but as we make our way tonight into tomorrow morning. this is noon on sunday, and you can see ice and snow already making its way into portions of the mid-atlantic, and this is including places like washington, d.c. we could see half an inch ice or more in places like that. and then, as it continues its track to the northeast, this is the wee hours of monday morning. then the system is moving in to places like new york city and boston, and then leaving rain for the southeast. this system is not over yet, as it continues to track to the east. it will continue to wreak havoc over much of the nation. so we're going to see up to a half inch of accumulation of e ice. could see isolated amounts, even more. and then, look at the high temperatures. they really take a dive between today and tomorrow. this is new york city, 41 today,

high of 34 on sunday. average temperature around 46. boston, you do about the same. and still, very, very cold temperatures across much of the deep south and especially the north. >> ooh, all of this in our prelude to winter. something tells me it will be a frigid winter no matter what corner you live in. >> i imagine so. >> yeah. all right. thanks so much, jennifer. appreciate that. we'll check back with you later in the afternoon. let's talk about something rather uplifting, the latest job numbers, and for a change, they are good with more people back to, would. later, we'll talk to former labor secretary robert reich, plus the world is mourning the death of nelson mandela. how the son of another civil rights icon is help remembering a man who helped end apartheid. 'y and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts,

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former presidents george w. bush and bill clinton will join

president obama at a memorial for nelson mandela next week as south africa mourns its former president's death. crowds outside his johannesburg home are singing their tributes. ♪ hundreds of people of all ages and colors are leaving candles, flowers, stuffed animals and balloons at the home of the civil rights icon. nelson mandela died thursday. he was 95 years old. when you talk about civil rights icons, the conversation ultimately turns to dr. martin luther king jr. well, dr. king never met nelson mandela. he did keep close tabs on the fight for equality in south africa. martin luther king iii said his constant fight for equality personified what me and my father often said, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice

everywhere." martin luther king iii joining me now. i'm quoting your dad. this is bringing so many people of all walks to reflect ton a giant man's life and the market that he left. >> yes, it is. he personified more than anything else and taught us the power of forgiveness. love and forgiveness was the essence of nelson mandela. dignity. dignified presence. i remember, for example, on one occasion there were a number of us in atlanta at the king cen r center, and this was the second visit to atlanta, and maybe a few thousand people outside. as he came outside, everyone was trying to get his attention. he went directly to a young kid, about 5 or 6 years old, because he understood the future is as it relates to young people and if i can make an impact on this young man's life -- and that's when he lit up. i mean, you know, he saw the people, and, like, nice to see

you all, but i'm going to focus on the children. >> i've heard similar reflections like that, that he managed to look in a manyaroroon a room, find someone in the room who by some standards might not be as significant as some of the bigger names in the room, and would gravitate toward and would reach, and always have something poignant, if not something very simple to say. >> well, again, when you think about the fact that a person had an experience for 27 years, being confined in jail, could have harbored hatred but chose to relinquish and release that and lead a nation for all the people, he could have focused specifically just on black south africans, because they were in the majority, but he focused on everyone in his country, making his country better for all south africans. >> at what point did you see parallels between your dad and nelson mandela? because the world likes to make lots of comparisons.

but for you, this is your dad, and then to see this man and what he was doing for the country of south africa and how he touched people worldwide, what similarities or what parallels have you been able to make? >> well, i think there are some parallels. for example, of course, they both won the nobel prize. both of them, of course, worked for peace throughout the world. they also both worked in the struggle for liberation for people. they also both stood as had tremendous integrity. so i think there are a number of parallels, and i'd say the final thing is that each of them -- not just -- i mean, in one sense, dad, because he was killed early, became an iconic figure. mr. mandela, over time, after he came out of jail, became iconic and once he became the president of the country. >> and he was particularly meaningful in your family. i think in your mom's kitchen -- >> yeah. >> -- there are family pictures, or there had been family pictures and the one non-family

member of a photograph in that kitchen was nelson mandela. >> yes, it was actually the night of the -- when they won, when the anc won, my mom went to a party in south africa, and he pulled her up on the stage, and you can see them dancing. great picture. >> very nice. martin luther king iii, thank you so much. appreciate your reflection. safe journey as you contemplate your journey to say your final good-byes to nelson mandela. we'll talk about the latest job numbers. very encouraging in many circles. good news say some with more people going back to work, but is it the temporary fix, or are we seeing the end of a great recession? i'll ask former labor secretary robert reich. he joins us next in the "newsroom." thanks for giving me your smile. thanks for inspiring me. thanks for showing me my potential. for teaching me not to take life so seriously. thanks for loving me and being my best friend. don't forget to thank those

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all right. when the markets close friday, they ended what was a pretty big week for the u.s. economy. stocks high, unemployment low, and the economy growing better than anyone expected. zane asher is in new york with what it means and how it all happened. >> reporter: fredricka, it was a big week for the economy. car sales rose, new-home sales roared and the unemployment rate dropped to 7%, the lowest since 2008. and it fell for positive reasons, because people are finding work. earlier this year, the unemployment rate declined because a lot of people got

discouraged, gave up looking for work and weren't counted, but the opposite seems to be happening. it's added more jobs since 2005 and the gains are not in low-wage sectors. a lot of hiring in health care, transportation, professional services like accountants and travel agents. wages are also up and americans are working more hours. the list goes on. the report pushed the dow up nearly 200 points friday. wall street is thinking the federal reserve will reduce the stimulus program soon. certainly a sign the economy is ready to stand on its own two feet. but remember, we still haven't gained back all of the jobs we lost during the recession. more than 1 million to go. so, fredricka, there is still a lot of work to be done. >> all right, zane asher, thank you so much in new york. is this a temporary bump for the u.s. economy, or is there some lasting power here? here with me now is former labor secretary robert reich, who is also the star of the new movie

"inequality for all." he's joining us from berkley, california, where he is professor at u.c. berkley. good to see you again. >> good morning, fredricka. >> here are the numbers. 203,000 jobs added in november. how much of this is an indicator that the recovery is either in full swing or about to be in your view? >> well, we've had some false dawns before, as you know. there are a lot of good indicators out there. you can paint a very, very positive picture. about you i'm not ready to pop the champagne corks quite yet. >> why not? >> a lot of wages -- well, first of all, wages continue -- the median family and household income continues to go down if you adjust for inflation. so even though we have more jobs, the pattern has been people cannot afford to buy very much, and if they can't afford to buy very much, that means that consumer sales are going to be down, which they were in the third quarter, and if consumer sales are down, then employers are not going to continue to hire. that's the basic problem.

>> okay. so when we talk about unemployment falling to 7%, the lowest in five year, there has been some pretty significant hiring in the areas of construction, manufacturing and professional services, but your feeling is the hourly wages are just not keeping up? >> hourly wages aren't keeping up. we also have a problem with the long-term unemployed. we have 4 million americans who have been unemployed for more than six months. that's a record number. it's going to be hard to get them back into the workforce. our poverty rate, even among working americans who are in low-wage jobs, is very, very high, and, in fact, among the major job categories that are coming back are retail and restaurant and hotel and hospital jobs. many of those jobs pay lower wages than the jobs that were lost during the great recession. so i don't want to -- look, i don't want to rain on this parade. i think it's great news that things are looking up. i'm just warning everybody not to -- not to accept and assume

that we're out of the -- out of trouble. >> so you underscore there still these economic disparities, but then you look at the year, and there was so much concern over the government shutdown, the partisan gridlock over the national debt limit, and there was a feeling that all of that will kind of stop the momentum. does this mean that it didn't? >> well, it means that the momentum might have been stronger if there hadn't been all of the gridlock. and indeed, you know, the government, the federal government at least, the state governments are starting to grow a little bit -- the federal government still is cutting b k back, and that means federal employment still is cutting back. at the state levels, you have a little bit more employment, but they still -- you know, there are a lot of teachers, a lot of firefighters, a lot of social workers who are fired over the last five years. they are not nearly where they were before, classrooms are still overcrowded. so we've got a long way to go back. we have about a million jobs short of where we were when the recession started. and the other thing to keep in

mind is that when the economy goes down, as far as it went down in the great recession, you expect and want much more economic growth to get back on the growth path where you were before the economy went down. and so, we have a very long way to go to get back on that growth path. so, you know, the bottom line, fredricka, is the news is very good, but we need much, much, much more good news to feel that we're -- that we're back on the right track. >> all right, mr. secretary, and professor robert reich, thank you so much. i know the students at u.c. berkley are so grateful and feel so lucky to have you as a professor. do you feel like it's much more gratifying as a professor these days than in public service? in another way? >> well, i was -- i tried to be a teacher when i was in public service, you know, being a professor is a little bit more gratifying, yes, it is. >> i bet it is. >> and the students don't talk back as much. >> they know how to behave, right? all right. professor robert reich, appreciate it. happy holidays. >> okay, fredricka, bye-bye.

let's talk about the nasty storm bringing ice, freezing temperatures to many parts of the country, but particularly texas. in a minute, we'll head to memphis, as well. other parts of the country that are really under siege from this ice, a state of emergency has already been declared there. ♪ morning, turtle. ♪ my friends are all around me ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ [ male announcer ] the 2014 chevrolet traverse... all set? all set. [ male announcer ] ...with three rows of spacious seating for up to eight. imagine that. chevrolet. find new roads. see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t.

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without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda™ pop in the drum of any machine... ♪ ...to wash any size load. it dissolves in any temperature, even cold. tide pods. pop in. stand out. a major storm is moving through the central part of this country. it's already hit tennessee and arkansas. both states have declared states of emergency. in texas, ice and bitter cold forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights at dallas-ft. worth airport, and tens of thousands have been left without power in the dallas area. nasty situation, potentially about to get worse. as i mentioned, the states of emergency have already been declared in tennessee. indra peterson joins us from

memphis. indra, has the state of emergency there been helping officials kind of clean up or deal with the impact of the storm? >> reporter: you know, that's actually kind of the thing. i'm not sure how much you can see around mement but really it almost looks like they scathed the bullet. it doesn't look like we have much ice, but that's not the case west of us, in the west memphis airport, they got half an inch of ice. downtown memphis, it looks okay. this morning, 5,000 people were without power from the freezing rain that really came after noon yesterday, or so, which is why they declared the state of emergency. we're still under the state of emergency because there's another wave expected to come in tonight. one thing i want to point out, 20,000 visitors were expected yesterday, thanks to the marathon supposed to be taking place this morning. once in a while, you may see people running by, because they did make it into town and they want to run. it looks like, the concern was, the cold, frigid temperatures, talking about single-digit temperatures with wind chills. they're worried about the volunteers being out here in the

cold arctic air, plus everyone would have been commuting into the city during the height of this ice storm. now, keep in mind during the wave that's exekted late this afternoon, it's another concern they would be trying to leave from the marathon during the second wave of the ice storm. one of the things i keep telling everyone is, a lot of places didn't lose powerpower. but keep in mind, you just need half an inch on a power line for it to weigh 500 pounds. many places saw a quarter of an inch. now that we have the second wave, it's still cold, you're still seeing ice on the power lines, there is the potential to add another quarter inch to the power lines, so the combination of those two systems together could still bring down these power lines as we have the next wave come through tonight in through tomorrow, and remember, i keep talking about this cold arctic air that is in place. it is so frigid. anyone without power, we're talking about temperatures again here in the single digits right now. >> ooh, all right. thanks for that warning. bad, and potentially to worsen, appreciate that. so by the end of the day, we should know in the sports world who will play for college

football's national champions p championship. joe carter is outside the georgia dome, site of the s.e.c. championship game, and he's joining us with more in this "bleacher report," and, look, it's looking frigid where you are, too! >> reporter: yeah, you know, it is, fredricka. i'll tell you, the game here that i'm going to cover is the auburn/missouri game, 4:00 p.m. eastern. the fans are kind of slow getting here. obviously, the tailgating section empty, ba us it's about 41 degrees, and yesterday in the 70s. and the weather where indra is, is moving over to us. today is a huge day for college football, arguably the best saturday of the entire season. really, we have three match-ups that have national championship implications. really the best match-up, you could say, is going to be that auburn/missouri game, that i'll cover at 4:00 p.m. you have auburn coming in. some people are calling them "the team of destiny." that's, of course, because they won two games in the last second, one against georgia, and who could forget about the one against alabama? and then, missouri comes into the game quietly winning 11 games this season. their only loss came in double

overtime against -- [ train horn ] -- south carolina, and appropriately, the horn is blowing for us, because they're excited for college football. the winner of the s.e.c. title game needs either fsu or ohio state to lose. in the acc championship game, number one florida state, believe it or not, they are a 30-point favorite over number 20, duke. if fsu wins, it's simple, they are in. and the big ten, if number two ohio state wins, they beat michigan state, they're in. so it's very simple for them. but watch out for that ohio state/michigan state game, because that one smells like an upset. >> ooh. >> a little baseball news. jay-z, you know the rap mogul turned sports agent, he hit a home run yesterday for robin cano, the former yankee is headed to seattle, the mariners reportedly signed a 10-year deal, $240 million, and the third-richest deal in baseball history. only albert pujols and a. rod have signed bigger contracts. but out here live, out in front of the georgia dome, where we're

awaiting the missouri/auburn game, and we'll find out who will play in the national championship game in pasadena, so that will be determined. also, no more bcs standings. this is the last year a computer would determine who plays. next year, of course, college football goes to a playoff system. fredricka? >> ooh, okay. jam packed. thank you so much, joe carter. appreciate it. and the trains there going by, they concur with the s.e.c. lineup there. on the championship. thanks so much. the gop party leaders admit they have a problem, particularly attracting women voters. >> -- a different take. do not know how to talk to women, sir? >> we have any number of republican women in our conference who are real leaders on all kinds of -- >> but for -- is there a problem with men in the republican party, your rank-and-file, who don't know who you to communicate to reach female voters? >> oh, boy, wait until you see what they're doing exactly to try to get women voters. our dana bash goes behind the

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welcome back. the gop admits it has a problem attracting women voters. now, the party is trying to change that and here's cnn's dana bash on how. >> reporter: this is exactly what republicans want to avoid in the next election -- >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> reporter: that comment not only cost republican todd aiken a senate seat, it knocked all republicans off message. now, republicans are training house candidates to communicate better with women and steer clear of such gaffes. >> trying to get them to be more sensitive. >> reporter: cnn is told that gop media training sessions, first reported by politico, include tutorials on how to avoid foot-in-mouth responses when talking about sensitive topics like abortion and rape. remember this republican

fate-sealing moment? >> even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. >> reporter: mitt romney lost female voters by 12%, the biggest gap in history. this sure didn't help. >> and brought us a whole binders full of women. >> reporter: part of the gop problem in congress? so few female gop lawmakers. out of 232 republican house members, only 19 are women. >> there are a lot more females in the democrat caucus than the republican caucus. some of our members aren't as sensitive as they ought to be. >> reporter: in an interview with house majority leader cantor, here's what he had to say. >> we have any number of republican women in our conference who are real leaders on all kinds -- >> reporter: but is there a problem with men in the republican party, your rank-and-file, who don't know how to communicate to reach female voters? >> you know, it is our policy --

policies that are going to appeal to both female and male voters. >> reporter: still, to connect more with women, a gop strategist tells cnn they urge men to humanize themselves, emphasize that they're husbands and fathers, with us, cantor did exactly that. >> i've got a daughter who's a senior in college right now. she's off now thinking about her next step in life. what kind of career, job opportunities are available for her. well, i don't believe that racking up trillions of dollars of additional deficit and debt are good things for her. >> reporter: and our thanks to dana bash for that, reporting on the gop trying to woo more women voters. all right. the fbi believes a letter was written and sent by a missing new hampshire teenager, abigail hernandez. she was last seen in october on her way home from school in the town of conway. well, abigail's mother received a letter a month ago. police won't talk about details in the letter, but say they are concerned for abigail's safety. adding that it is possible that she is being held against her will.

and while you were sleeping, u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel was on a military transport headed for an unannounced trip to afghanistan. he landed in kabul earlier this morning. is he there to thank the u.s. troops for their service and training afghan training forces, and he'll meet with his afghan counterpart to see if afghan troops are able to defend their own country. as the world mourns the death of nelson mandela, tributes to south africa's first black president are pouring in that could fill volumes. but poet and author maya angelou says one word really sums up his character and influence. we'll hear from her next. [ dr. ronit ] there's a lot of foods and drinks that have acids in them.

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people around the world are remembering nelson mandela's remarkable life. among them, renown poet maya angelou. in today's "american journey," she tells cnn's anderson cooper one word dominates her thoughts about mandela. courage. >> dr. angelou, i watched the poem that you wrote and recited in memory of president mandela, and one of the things that struck me, you refer to him as david, not just south africa's david, but as our david, the world's david, and our gideon. >> the truth is we have many of our son davids, a man, a woman, we can all be that particular person who has enough courage to stand up and say, "i am one, i have enough courage that dares to love. now, that's what nelson mandela was about. he had enough courage to say you

may call me, i am a person that dares to care for other human beings, and you see, one of the reasons i said this to you some time ago when i had pleasure of speaking to you, anderson cooper, i like the fact that you have enough courage to stand up. courage is the most important of all the virtues. >> the thing about mandela that i find so extraordinary in reading his history is from a very young age he had the courage to see beyond his own situation. i mean, he was born into a regal family. he had access to education. he could have stayed in his community, but he saw -- he started to see himself as an african, not just as a hoso, he started to see himself and see how the white regime was

dividing people by stressing ethnic differences and he was able to overcome that. i think that's such an extraordinary thing. >> it's true. it's true. he was a courageous human being and full of the idea that he was on a journey, and he had something to do, he had a place to be, and it's fabulous to realize that there's an old spiritual, old gospel song which is i'm on my journey now, mount zion, on my journey now, mount zion, and i wouldn't take nothing, mount zion, from my journey. mount zion. he was on the journey and he knew it and he had something to do. and this is what each of us has, if we have enough courage, we

can say i'm on a journey, i have a charge to keep. >> you were living in cairo with your husband, south african freedom fighter when you first met nelson mandela. i understand your husband and mandela were something of rivals, but that didn't matter to mandela. tell us about that experience. >> they were rivals. but when nelson mandela came to visit, he never joined the argumentative people. he was simply kind to everybody. >> when you heard that he was gone, what first went through your mind? well, i felt lost in a way. we've been friends so long, from the early '60s, and i felt lost. i didn't know quite what to say. i mean, it was a piece of news that we've known would come, but

it threw me, and i don't know if i'm over it quite yet. >> dr. maya angelou, i appreciate you spending some moments with us tonight. thank you so much. >> i thank you very much, mr. anderson cooper. thank you, god bless your heart. >> that was maya angelou remembering nelson mandela. country music legend willie nelson known for making music to make a statement. now he is sending a message by not singing at seaworld. we'll tell you why next! i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts,

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on pilot whales stranded near the florida everglades national park earlier this week. scientists spotted 20 of them friday in deeper water, say the whales were swimming in a disorganized fashion which could suggest exhaustion, dehydration or malnutrition. they originally spotted a pod of 51 tuesday, 11 died. crews are monitoring conditions of the remaining whales. and country music legend willie nelson says he will not

perform at seaworld orlando, mainly because he agrees with his fans and a petition that accuses seaworld of mistreating its animals. nelson was set to perform in february. after some 9,000 people signed a petition asking nelson not to sing at seaworld in light of the cnn film "blackfish" he cancelled the show. nelson spoke to brooke baldwin friday. >> i had a lot of calls asking me. i understand there's petitions going around with thousands of people's names on it, you know, i had to cancel. and also i don't agree with the way they treat their animals. it wasn't that hard a deal for me to cancel. >> tell me about that. tell me about how you feel of the notion of these animals, these whales being held in captivity and performing for audiences. does that bother you? >> i feel the same way about all animals in the zoo.

i have been to zoos where the monkey in the zoo, i don't blame them wanting to throw stuff at you. all of that stuff is hard on animals, it is cruel, and i understand there are some natural habitat zoos out there which is probably okay, but what they do at seaworld is not okay. >> willie, i know you've got grandkids. have you ever been to seaworld, taken those kids to seaworld before? >> no, i haven't, but i also have had one of those petitions was from one of my great grandkids that had about 250 names of people that she knew asking me not to play the venue. >> wow, great grand kid. what was seaworld's response to you. it was a couple days we learned the bare naked ladies pulled out for the same reasons. seaworld offered to them hey, come to our facility, let us show you a tour, we would like to show you that nothing

nefarious is happening. is there anything, willie nelson, seaworld could do or say to change your mind. >> not really. i have already been convinced this is not -- i don't want to play there. that's the end of the story. >> end of the story. willie nelson. thank you so much for calling in. i appreciate it. >> thank you, good talking to you. >> good talking to you as always. much more in the newsroom straight ahead and it all starts right now. hello again, i'm fredricka whitfield. here are the top stories we're following in the cnn newsroom. from texas to tennessee, a massive storm bringing ice, sleet and snow, grounding flights, cutting power to thousands. we're going live to the heart of the storm next. and dragged off a plane and locked up in north korea for six weeks. now an elderly u.s. war veteran is free, but why was he

released? we're going live to california for his arrival. labeled a terrorist by the u.s. on the watch list until 2008, nelson mandela's life in prison changed him and how the world saw him. coming up, a look back on the darker side of mandela's life with someone who knew him. a major snowstorm hitting the country, dallas fort worth is among the hardest-hit. weather knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. much of the state plunged into bone chilling cold. nasty weather forced cancellation of almost 700 flights at the dallas, fort worth airport. as it slammed into arkansas, power lines came down. the governor declared a statewide emergency and police spent the night helping drivers

stuck on ice and snow covered roads. the weather is now moving into the ohio valley. roads are icy, snow is falling there, triggering a winter storm warning for central ohio. we have full team coverage for you. ed lavandera in hard hit dallas. and jennifer grey in the severe weather center for the forecast. first let's find out what's going on with you, ed lavandera. it is not snow like i thought, instead it is ice behind you. >> sorry. i pusher it were snow, too. it is more exciting to be out here in rough conditions but it's become a dangerous situation, even more so. this is what has happened here, in many places the roadways. the hard freeze last night, temperatures around 20 degrees, and probably already hit close to the high we're going to see

for today. that means that slush has hardened up on roadways. you have to be very careful. saw the dangers of this already this morning where a truck slipped off the interstate, 30 miles north of downtown dallas in lewisville, texas. truck slid off the highway and plunged into lake lewisville, divers driving in to rescue the driver of the truck but were unable to do so. that driver died at the scene there. those are the kinds of conditions you have to be very careful with as these conditions really will remain like this the course of the next couple days until temperatures go up, which we're not expecting to see until perhaps late sunday. it will take time for all of the ice to melt away. in the airports, airports in the area are trying to catch up, about 50% flights outbound from dallas cancelled. some 4,000 had to sleep in the

terminals last night. >> boy, that's pretty uncomfortable. ed lavandera, thanks so much in a chilly, icy dallas. that city is not the only one dealing with the storm. cnn's indra peterson joins us from memphis where a state of emergency has been declared. what are the conditions like? >> reporter: looks like they dodged a bullet for downtown memphis. right around noon yesterday when they declared a state of emergency, we saw heavier bands of cold arctic air and freezing rain move in the area. just west of us at the memphis airport, they got a half inch of ice on the power lines. that's a concern. continually mention that half inch of ice, that makes it critical, makes the power lines weigh 500 pounds. that's the reason you get so many power outages every time an ice storm moves through. downtown memphis, seeing icing on the trees. generally the bulk is not here, it never made it to the region, but there was a marathon that was scheduled for us to morning, 20,000 were expected to be here.

they did cancel that marathon due to conditions. arctic air, temperatures that feel like single digits, feels like nine degrees. their concern about the volunteers in the frigid cold all day and concerned about people commuting in friday evening during the height of the ice storm and leaving today after the marathon, if it had gone on, during the second wave of this ice storm. keep in mind there's another ice storm headed this way which could potentially bring more power outages to the region. >> oh, boy, thanks so much, indra. let's go to jennifer grey in the cnn weather center to find out where else the storm might be heading. >> wave one passed, now we're waiting on wave two. this is in the next couple hours. you can see this system that brought all of the ice to portions of the south is really pushing offshore. as we go into the next 24 hours, and this is a look sunday at noon, you can see all of the ice and snow starting to develop in portions of tennessee, kentucky,

virginia, north carolina, even pushing into washington, d.c. we could see accumulations of a half inch or more of ice, could see more power outages, more rough roads. this will push northeast sunday night into monday, leaving a rainy southeast as well. what we're going to be dealing with in the next 24 to 48 hours, more ice accumulation. looks like it is going to be a little further to the east. most of the areas that saw ice during the past 24 to 48 hours looks like they're going to be in the clear. could touch some of those places in western tennessee and kentucky. some of those same areas could see ice. the majority of it is going to be more to the east. that's what we will be looking for. could be from mess from washington, d.c. to boston the next day or so. temperatures are still very, very cold across the south. look at dallas. 30 degrees your high temperature today. that's colder than the average

low temperature. should be at 59 degrees. that's roughly 30 degrees below normal. temperatures will finally start to warmup a little beginning part of next week. >> bundle up, everyone. jennifer grey, thanks so much. all right. after six weeks locked up in north korea, overnight a sudden release. u.s. war vet merill newman has arrived home to california, after what north korea calls a quote, deportation, north korean state media say it is because of this video where newman appeared to apologize for alleged crimes in the korean war. joining me now, dan simon in front of his palo alto residence. dan, he is back on u.s. soil but not quite at home yet, right? >> reporter: that's exactly right. we understand his plane just touched down. as you said, we are in front of his retirement complex where he lives with his wife.

presumably he is headed here. you can see behind me, perhaps see some yellow ribbons at the entry. this is an 85-year-old that has a heart condition. he had been held in korea since the end of october. obviously this is a day people had been praying for. no one knew what was going to happen until he was suddenly released last night. this is what mr. newman had to say before boarding his plane to the united states. >> i am very glad to be on my way home. i appreciate the tolerance the dprk government has given to me to be on my way. >> how do you feel now? >> feel good. feel good. >> what do you want to do, first thing? >> go home, see my wife. >> reporter: he was a world traveler, scuba diver. didn't surprise people who knew him he would want to go back to north korea given his advanced age. fredricka, this is somebody that

was an intelligence officer during the korean war. obviously he said the wrong thing to someone when he was over there, and that's why he was arrested. then you saw that apology which led to his release. >> dan, this 85-year-old seemed to be in great physical condition and i understand his family was very concerned about his heart condition, saying he only had a ten day supply of his heart medication. they were worried about him. here he stayed overseas, being locked up essentially for six weeks. do we know anything about his health condition as he makes his way home? >> reporter: apparently they were able to get some medication to him, so that was a huge relief to his friends and his family. but you look at him on that video when he gives the apology and also at the airport, he seems to be in good physical health, so obviously we'll want to ask some questions about how he is doing and obviously we want to hear about his treatment when he was captured by the government. it will be fascinating to hear it from his own words, fred.

>> it will indeed. dan simon, thanks so much. we look forward to that. meantime, the world is mourning the death of nelson mandela. just ahead, from prison to president, a look at the complicated legacy of the former south african leader. plus wild police dash cam video. dangerous high speed case, shootout, and manhunt, in south carolina. ♪ [ female announcer ] feed a man a cookie and he eats a cookie. ♪ feed him a fresh baked cookie and he eats a much, much better cookie. bake the world a better place with nestle toll house. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

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shooting from the suv and a state trooper's car, the car sped off, then eventually crashed. police say the driver and passenger got out, began shooting at the trooper, who fired back. authorities took the driver into custody and the passenger fled. police tracked him down just a few hours later. amazingly no one was injured in that shootout. still unclear why it happened in the first place. while you were sleeping, defense secretary chuck hagel was on a military transport, headed for unannounced trip to afghanistan. he landed in kabul early this morning. hagel is there to thank u.s. troops for service and training afghan national security forces. he'll also meet with his afghan counterpart to see if afghan troops are able to defend their own country. former presidents george w.

bush and clinton will join president obama at a memorial for nelson mandela next week as south africa mourns its former president, hundreds of people of all ages and colors are leaving candles, flowers, stuffed animals, balloons at the home of the civil rights icon. nelson mandela died thursday. he was 95 years old. mandela's legacy is definitely a complicated one. while in prison he was labeled a terrorist by the reagan administration. mandela even had to get a special waiver to visit the u.s. in the 1990s. he wasn't removed from that terrorist list until 2008. cnn editorial producer nadia bill check with us. this is a part of history that very few people know as well as they know the history of his days in prison and then what happened afterwards. why was he labeled a terrorist? >> let's go back to 1961.

nelson mandela together with his comrade, a military wing. why do they start a military wing? peaceful measures are no longer working against the oppressive apartheid regime. one of the reasons, one of the catalysts was something known as the sharpeville massacre. they are open fire armed from police. they are protesting pass laws, don't want to be arrested for not having identification on them. i remember as a little girl watching black people asked for their passes and if they didn't have them shoved into vans. it was terror not to have a pass. looking at the terrors of apartheid. this is what it was set up to try to combat. >> he was trying to help end that. >> with a peaceful means. >> the apartheid government then

labeled him a terrorist. that's why he was pursued. that's why at some point he was captured and in large part why he was -- >> in 1962 he gets arrested, in '64, a sentence of a lifetime prison sentence. in the '80s, it reaches its height in the '80s, there's a bombing outside the south african air force military headquarters, and it is during that time that it is seen as militant. we have to remember the nelson mandela in his mid 40s who was arrested is not the mandela that emerges out of prison and becomes president in '73. it is a very different person. one of the things you and i spoke about earlier was the terror of white south africans. what happens when this man becomes the president or has power. then he preaches something called togetherness, humans through the humanity of others. very famous in vick 'tis movie

where he is embracing a white rugby player in 1995. what is rugby? it is the game of racist white south africans. and mandela embraces the game, wears a white rugby shirt, and says to all south africans, white, black, every other color, that you are part of this rainbow nation. >> being a former boxer himself. quickly, how is it and why is it it would take so long before the u.s. would take him off the so-called terrorist list. >> that's interesting. he was anti-war in iraq. he supported saddam hussein. it is complex in so many ways. a complex man, a wonderful man, an extraordinary story. >> incredible, extraordinary portion of the story you bring to us. nadia bilchik. thank you so much. thousands of jobs and business booming. who do you think should get the credit for all of that? we'll talk about that next. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing.

so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

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a big week for the u.s. economy and all the indicators show it is hotter than expected. latest numbers from the federal government show unemployment at 7%, the lowest it has been since 2008. u.s. economy has created more than 2 million jobs so far this year. 2013 is on track to best the

best year for hiring since 2005. the commerce department says gross domestic product, gdp, grew 3.6% in the third quarter, and the stock market is posting an all-time high. the dow ended this week closing above 16,000 friday. so who or what gets the credit for the turn around? republican strategist rich galen joining us from washington and senior writer at espn joins us from new york. rich, what's your view? how did we get here? >> i think the first group that gets credit are the workers who have stayed in there and pinched, looked for jobs all through the process. these aren't the best jobs in the history of the world, but they are jobs, not the highest paying jobs, but it is better than no job, i think the american workers themselves get the lion's share of the credit

for continuing to search for jobs and taking them when they're presented. >> ld, you concur? >> absolutely. i mean, when you look at the numbers, especially the last 45 months, we had 45 months of consecutive private sector job growth. that tells us not just the government hiring people but private sector supporting other americans. so i agree 100%. we also shouldn't downplay the impact that the stimulus that was enacted, what that also did in terms of helping the economy and stabilize the economy as well. >> so the stimulus being one potential catalyst, pushing for extension of unemployment benefits, perhaps another review? >> that would be the opposite. >> what do you mean? >> not suggesting to make people starve and beg on the streets by any stretch, the alternative to stretching out unemployment benefits makes it less likely for someone to go to work, especially younger people who now may be able to stay as

robert reich said earlier, stay off the payrolls because they're doing pretty well with unemployment. by the way, something that the former secretary said in an earlier segment this morning, one of the best at this that i've ever heard, he did point out the fact that the growth in the economy is good but it is a far cry from what we want before we could stand up on our soap box and cheer for a booming economy. >> in large part talking about economic disparity, the rate of inflation not keeping up with the fact that wages are stagnant or lowering. ld, it is difficult to comprehend that philosophy with the fact that unemployment is now 7%, lowest in five years, and it would seem those are great indicators that a lot of the right things are being done.

>> yes. and this actually is a good lead way to what needs to happen, which is a larger conversation about what has happened to the american worker. for more than 30 decades, more than three decades, wages have been stagnant. they trailed, inflation rates stayed, and trailed health care provisions. we aren't able to provide for ourselves because we can't earn enough. this making it seem as if poor people are somehow lazy, that's the reason they need aid has been an unfair conversation and politicized conversation and hasn't helped us address the true issue which is corporate greed and how that impacted the american economy. there's a reason why you're seeing so many people in top positions and executives celebrating big numbers and growth because they're reaping the benefits.

they feel the american economy has improved. >> hold it, hold it, hold it. >> quick. go ahead, quick. >> that's fine, but who is the president of the united states? it is not herbert hoover, it is barack obama. >> it is a 30 year trend. it is a 30 year trend. >> if they want to change this, they have a way to change it. they could do this. there are on a bunch of other things. don't say it is corporate greed, it is inability of political leadership to get anything done. >> it's a 30 year trend. you can't say government is going to make companies pay people more. that's a dictatorship. >> all right. >> they make rich companies pay people more. >> not because the conversation ended, but because i am being yelled at. we have a commercial break to get in. we have to pick this up another

time, another place, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> have a good week. >> you, too. millions are being impacted by winter like weather. among them, a country singer talking about conditions in one of the hardest-hit areas. ♪ nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. ♪

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to remove up to 100% more plaque than a regular manual brush. it seems like it gets more to areas of your mouth that you can't reach with a regular toothbrush. [ male announcer ] guaranteed "wow" with deep sweep from oral-b. #1 dentist-recommended toothbrush brand worldwide. country singer jamie fricky caught up in frigid weather in dallas. one hit was let's stop talking about it. in this case, she and millions of others can't stop talking about the bitterly cold weather, fricke joins us on the phone. what are conditions like where you are? >> it is treacherous, fredricka. i've never seen weather this severe, and it is so serious, you watch the news and see the cars colliding on the interstate. they closed down many highways. they're asking people to not go out, it is so bad.

do not get on the roads and just stay put, which we are doing. >> and those are meaningful warnings. we have seen some pretty nasty accidents and pileups. looking at videotape now of what appears to be a lengthy pileup there. now what about food? you know, are you prepared to stay in for awhile? >> you know, i didn't really expect this, and of course, i keep my pantry full anyway because i am a cook and kitchen person, a foodie you would call it, i always have freezer stuff on hand. we're okay with that. we worry about some of our neighbors and some of these ladies, the widows that cannot get out and i'm worried about them, i wish we could take them some food. and of course, i deliver wheeme on wheels, i delivered before this hit. >> that was good. >> you worry about people that are needing things at home now that cannot get out, so -- >> hopefully the meals you did

deliver are a great assistance and help now. but certainly you're being discouraged to get on the road now for any other deliveries or anything that's nonemergency. janie fricke, stay warm and safe, keep us posted. >> thank you, fredricka. appreciate it. >> all right. now people all over the world are mourning the death of nelson mandela. outside the civil rights icon's home, not only are there memorials, but people are actually celebrating his life through song, dance. cnn's robin kur no joins us from joe han he isburg where people have been celebrating his life as people mourn around the clock since the announcement of his death. >> reporter: absolutely. you can probably hear behind me, i am surrounded by south

africans on a street outside the house where he passed away. they are singing and dancing, but don't be mistaken, this isn't a party, this is the way south africans say good-bye and welcome people. south africans basically show their feelings in song and dance. so you hear a lot of that song, nelson mandela, nelson mandela, there's no one else like you. it keeps getting chanted over and over again. it is a lament, a prayer, but a thank you as well. >> incredible. tell me, robyn, what kind of preparations are being made now, a week out of this funeral where world leaders are expected to attend? >> reporter: what you're seeing around me now and what we've seen the past few days is essentially south africa coming together to say good-bye. but by tuesday we're going to

see an influx of leaders, heads of state, royalty from around the world coming here for a memorial service at a big football stadium just outside joe han is erg berg. you're going to see the real power of nelson mandela, a man that didn't just unite his nation but found commonality with people around the world. i spoke to michelle obama, the first lady, when she visited here. this is her thoughts after she met nelson mandela. >> i told him, you know, i wanted to make sure he understood how important his leadership and sacrifice has been to who i've become, to who my husband has become, and in short i just said thank you. it's really hard to know what to say to such an icon. >> reporter: a little earlier his family made a statement

saying mandela made time for everyone, for kings and queens, poor and rich, and great and small. >> fantastic. nicely put. thanks so much, robyn curnow. we will check back with you. in this country, a georgia man arrested for stealing electricity from a school to charge his electric car. did police go too far? we ask the legal guys next. [ male announcer ] this is jim, a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem.

that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®,

tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com.

all right, you've seen the electric car chargers in some parking lots, right? well, there wasn't one at an atlanta school where a dad needed to charge his car, so while waiting for his son to finish a tennis game at the school, the dad decided to plug his car into the school outlet. big mistake. he got arrested. doug richards from wxia has the story. >> reporter: one saturday in november, he drove his nissan to the middle school where his 11-year-old son was playing tennis. he had taken the liberty of charging the electric car with an exterior outlet. within minutes, a police officer appeared. >> he said he was going to charge me with theft by taking because i was taking power,

electricity from the school. >> reporter: he said he charged the car 20 minutes, drawing about a nickel's worth of juice. >> sorry about this. we're going to interrupt that programming now, we want to take you to san francisco airport. we told you u.s. korean war vet merrill newman who was held against his will in north korea while on a trip there and upon departure from his trip, and now he has gotten through customs at the san francisco airport. you're seeing the camera zoom in on him. let's listen to what he has to say. >> i want to thank the swedish embassy in pyongyang and american embassy in beijing for their help. it has been a great homecoming, and i am tired, but can be with my family now. thank you all for the support we got and very much appreciate it. >> can you talk about your time

in prison, how they treated you? >> all right. we will not comment right now. >> he won't be answering questions, mr. newman won't. he got through customs. still unclear why north korea decided to suddenly deport him after being held six weeks there. he had a ten day tourist trip there in north korea, then suddenly while on the plane about to return back to the states authorities got on the plane, took him off, then he was detained six weeks in all. his family was very worried about him with a heart condition there. they did eventually get medicine to him, but he had to read an apology, an apology for his involvement in the korean war just a few days ago, then mysteriously he was now released. north korean government saying he was deported, still unclear what took place to grant his

freedom. there he is now. san francisco airport. he is now going to be heading to palo alto to resume his life hopefully with his wife there. all right, now let's get back to the other story we were following, and that involved a georgia man who plugged in his vehicle to an atlanta, georgia school outlet because his electric vehicle needed a boost. but then he was arrested. let's check in with our legal guys, avery freedman and richard herman on this story. oh, boy. what a transition, gentlemen. here this man was trying to be environmentally conscious, then his vehicle needs a little boost, but it means he gets arrested. so richard, did the authorities take it a little too far or is this following the letter of the law? >> fred, i know you got a charge out of this one, but let me just say i find it shocking and revolting, and i'll tell you

why. there is discretion. police officers have discretion. this is an absolute absurd behavior by a police force to bring this guy in on these charges. by the way, it took them 11 days to draw up paperwork and go to his house and arrest him in handcuffs and then put him in a prison for 15 hours before released on $150 bail. it is absurd, abuse of process, abuse of discretion, case is going to be thrown out. it is outrageous. >> avery, do you agree or disagree, abusive, the word richard is using? >> yeah, i mean i think even can get carried away with something like that. the truth is that's exactly right. he plugged in his vehicle. you need for a theft to have consent, taking without consent. but taking without consent, fredricka, doesn't mean it is a crime, doesn't mean it is a theft. where we agree, there is an

exercise of discretion, but at the end of the day the behavior by the police was so excessive that frankly the chamblee and sergeant ford may be looking at a federal civil rights case for what they did here, way out of line, exactly right, excessive force, inappropriate. all they had to do is say don't do it again, that's the end of it. but no, they had to throw the guy in jail for 15 hours. that's way, way out of line. >> okay. we have another case we want to talk to you gentlemen about coming up. oh, no, i am told no, never mind, we're out of time. we have so much going on today. glad to have the time for these brief moments, avery and richard, thank you so much. have a good one. >> thank you, fred. see you soon. bye-bye. all right. well, a farewell to paul walker. thousands of fans will celebrate his life at a memorial tomorrow.

but next, we'll show you how far walker went to help others in need. every day we're working to be an even better company - and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u.s. than any other place in the world. in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective

to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto®

and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. [ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of unsurpassed craftsmanship at the lexus december to remember sales event. some of the best offers of the year. this is the pursuit of perfection. you give them the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more.

tylenol cold®. a huge crowd is expected for tomorrow's memorial for "fast and furious" star paul walker. he died a week ago in a fiery car crash. fans are celebrating his life and commitment to humanitarian relief. here is a clip from paul walker, a life in the fast lane. >> reporter: outside the hollywood game, walker was deeply involved in the world of fast cars. even raced with a hollywood club. >> what's up, paul walker. red light on. >> reporter: it wasn't just fast and furious where he found his love of cars. >> in 2010 paul walker started dabbling in semi professional

racing, he was a total auto head. he owned, always evolving performance shop that appealed to the car junkie that paul walker was. >> reporter: but paul was much more than a car junkie. he was also deeply committed to humanitarian relief. in 2010, walker took a team to haiti, helping in the aftermath of the major earthquake that devastated the small nation. >> asked a bunch of people what they thought we should bring. >> he knew that he had to do something. no one knew what to expect, but all he knew is he was bringing medical equipment, water filtration, he was going to do what he could. when they got there, they did so much for their first time, they were able to set up a hospital in an orphanage and the experience that he came home with after that was i have the opportunity to do something very special. >> reporter: and walker wasn't

afraid to get his hands dirty. >> you talked about the fact he went to alabama to help with victims of the tornadoes. lots of people talk about things they care about. he actually did something. >> paul walker didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk. he cared about other people and he went and helped them. >> all right, an incredible program you don't want to miss. now you have to see the new numbers about how americans stack up against others around the world and hear solutions from two top educator reformers next.

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because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ baby... ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ parents and educators listen to this. every three years 15-year-old students in more than 65

countries take tests to see how they're doing in math, science, and reading. a look at the most recent results in math. shanghai, china topped the list, tested way above average. u.s. students came in 26th, below average. in reading, shanghai tops again, u.s. finishing 17th. and in science, guess who. shanghai. u.s. students came in at number 21. i talked to two education experts to find out why u.s. students are falling behind and what we can do to fix that. michelle reed, former chancellor of d.c. public schools and steve perry, principal of capital prep magnet school in connecticut. i asked steve what he thinks the biggest problem is. >> we know what it's not, it's not the kids. kids are manufactured the same way they've always been. even in america we find that the states that have the highest performance have the highest standards and highest expectations, not just the states but the schools

themselves. we have this middle class malaise where students are expected not to have homework, not to be pushed because that makes them feel uncomfortable. where in other countries, comfort is not what we're talking about, it is about performance. >> michelle, how do you see it. if there is an explanation or host of explanations as to this disparity, how do you interpret it? >> it is interesting. if you look at the actual scores on the tests, america hasn't changed. that's part of the problems, we stagnated. the issue is not that we as a nation have become worse, it is that other countries are leapfrogging ahead of us. so we are nestled between slow vak republic and lithuania, not where america wants to be. ireland, poland, estonia ahead of where we are. the bottom line is we as a country have to stop being complacent, have to stop settling for doing the same old thing over and over again because in this global economy it is going to mean our kids

won't be able to compete. >> i thought something resonated, couple of teenage kids, there is this sort of expectation that they shouldn't have to work too hard, that after school should be home time. you look at asian countries, south korea, some come home from school, have dinner, go to school again for four hours to another school. it is an industry. what does america need to do, steve? >> what america needs to do is understand these other countries are as many as three years ahead of us. one student is three years ahead of an american student in other countries and that's not small. we're not talking about where the real issues lie. the real issues lie in the fact we know how to run successful schools but keep running schools that we're most comfortable with, because to run the most successful schools, there need to be fundamental changes, other

options, that we don't want to have the conversation around, it could mean, god forbid, some people lose their jobs. >> michelle, how do you see it, what is america's homework assignment? >> look, if you look at american culture today, we are so busy spending time making our children feel good about themselves that we've lost sight of taking time that is necessary to make them good at things. in america, every kid gets a trophy for soccer, whether or not they played, whether or not they scored, just merely for participating and that's a problem in our society because we are not teaching our kids about competition, we are not teaching our kids you need to work hard and do the right thing. >> i don't remember that when i was little, you know. you weren't just on a team, you were acknowledged if you made a good play, get a good score. now it is trophies for everything. >> it is because -- >> we make kids -- >> go ahead. >> as we have evolved as society, one thing that we have sort of taken on is this thing

that we don't want to make kids feel bad about themselves, so in order to bolster their self esteem, we want to give every kid a medal, but in fact research shows that kids know the difference between real praise and false praise. so when they're not getting real praise because of real accomplishments, we're creating a society where kids just are satisfied with mediocrity. >> that's something as a parent bugged me, you show up, get a trophy without doing anything. steve, we can't be too unfair here. if you take massachusetts in this study and turn massachusetts into its own country, they would have finished sixth. not everything is created equal. what are they doing other places aren't? >> expectations are higher. it is very clear. and they have been higher for years. in fact, if you look at massachusetts, massachusetts has many poor communities. massachusetts has minorities, immigrants, people that are

special ed, special needs, and yet and still they're among top performers in the world. we have to understand that the adults created this system. this is not about kids that get the trophies, this is about adults that are uncomfortable going home with a child that doesn't have a trophy, this is about the adult that doesn't want to sit home and help his or her child do a homework assignment that might take up too much of their night. we have to own that we the adults have to put our children first and create situations in which we push not just the children but the educators that sur ound them. too many of us are comfortable with mediocrity. as michelle said, the rest of the world is moving forward. we haven't dropped, we're just losing in a race because we're not moving forward. >> frank talk from steve perry and michelle reed on this important issue. we have much more ahead in the cnn newsroom and it all starts right now.